Major funding for this program was provided by
The National Endowment for the Humanities,
The Ford Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation.
Produced in association with the Independent Television Service (ITVS).

The Gate of Heavenly Peace

MAY 27

NARRATION

By the end of May the students' resources--financial,
political, and emotional--were running low, and the Square was
getting more squalid every day.

Some concerned intellectuals had set up joint meetings
involving workers' and citizens' groups, the independent student
unions, and the Defend Tiananmen Square Headquarters. They had
been meeting daily since May 23rd.

Wang Dan acted as liaison among them.

WANG DAN

At the May 27th coalition meeting, Chai Ling and Feng Congde
reported on the situation in the Square. The impression we got
was that things were really chaotic. There was endless factional
in-fighting, and sanitary conditions were terrible. We began to
doubt whether anything positive could come out of this on-going
stalemate.

So we drafted a proposal. The vote in favor of it was
unanimous, including Chai Ling. Later, we held a press conference
in the Square to announce this proposal.

WANG DAN, Press Conference on the Square

To avoid an irrational confrontation with this irrational
government, and to create conditions to resolve this conflict
through legal and democratic procedures, we propose suspending
our peaceful demonstration in Tiananmen Square on May 30th, the
tenth day after the declaration of martial law.

WANG DAN

After the press conference, Li Lu raised objections to our
proposal. Then Chai Ling changed her mind and decided to oppose
it too.

CHAI LING

The people who made the decision to leave the Square on May
30th had a very negative effect on the movement. I attended the
meeting, but I didn't realize at the time how harmful their
decision would be. The real issue at that meeting was that some
people were trying to use the movement to make themselves famous,
and we opposed this. I want to say to everyone that the Square is
our only stronghold. If we lose it, the conservatives will
overrun China!

WANG DAN

I regret we didn't debate the issue further. Although we had
many good arguments in our favor, we felt we could never compete
with the emotional appeal of their position. So we gave up. I
think we should have acted more responsibly.

After that I thought that any attempt to influence the
situation on the Square would be futile. There was nothing more I
could do. So I decided to go back to campus and do what I could
to further democracy there.

FENG CONGDE

Why did the students want to stay at Tiananmen? Because our
goal was to awaken the people.

Tiananmen is the symbol of our People's Republic. When we took
action there, we were telling people throughout the country that
there were still some of us who dared to fight back. A lot of
students felt that the longer we held out, the more time people
would have to think freely.

We held a meeting at the Square every night. Two to three
hundred representatives from the various universities would get
together. The issue of whether or not to leave came up almost
every time. At least 80% of the students always voted to stay. If
we were to stick to the principle of majority rule, it was
impossible to leave the Square.

NARRATION

The student population at the Square was constantly changing.
As those who grew discouraged or disgusted left, they were
replaced by enthusiastic newcomers from all over the country. At
any one time there was a majority on the Square who would vote to
stay; those who thought it best to leave voted with their feet.

HONG KONG CONCERT FOR DEMOCRACY

As the students debated whether or not to continue their
occupation of the Square, a marathon benefit concert was being
held on a race track in Hong Kong. Millions of dollars were
raised for the movement in Beijing.

That night a shipment of tents and other supplies arrived at
the Square, the first installment in a flood of support from Hong
Kong.

CHAI LING speaking to crowd in the Square

I am Chai Ling. I am the Commander-in-Chief of the Defend
Tiananmen Headquarters.

We will mobilize Chinese people around the world to protest
martial law! Martial law won't succeed in ten days, in a year,
in a hundred years! Those who lose the hearts of the people
will perish! Overthrow the illegal government headed by Li
Peng!

NARRATION

Chai Ling had successfully resisted the proposal to move the
struggle back to the campuses, and allied herself once more with
those determined to hold the Square.

On the following morning, she contacted American journalist
Philip Cunningham.

CHAI LING

I've been feeling very sad recently. The students themselves
lack a developed sense of democracy. To be honest, from the day I
called for a hunger strike I knew we would not get any results.
Certain people, certain causes are bound to fail. I've been very
clear about this all along, but I've made an effort to present a
staunch image, to show that we were striving for victory. But
deep down I knew it was all futile.

The more involved I got, the sadder I became. I already felt
this back in April. All along I've kept it to myself, because
being Chinese I felt I shouldn't bad-mouth the Chinese. But I
can't help thinking sometimes -- and I might as well say it --
you, the Chinese, you are not worth my struggle! You are not
worth my sacrifice! But then I can also see that in this movement
there are many people who do have a conscience. There are many
decent people among the students, workers, citizens, and
intellectuals.

The students keep asking, "What should we do next? What can we
accomplish?" I feel so sad, because how can I tell them that what
we are actually hoping for is bloodshed, for the moment when the
government has no choice but to brazenly butcher the people. Only
when the Square is awash with blood will the people of China open
their eyes. Only then will they really be united. But how can I
explain any of this to my fellow students?

And what is truly sad is that some students, and some famous,
well-connected people, are working hard to help the government,
to prevent it from taking such measures. For the sake of their
selfish interests and their private dealings they are trying to
cause our movement to collapse and get us out of the Square
before the government becomes so desperate that it takes action.

If we allow the movement to collapse on its own, then the
government will be able to wipe out all the leaders of the
movement, as well as those leaders in the Party and in the
military who dare to oppose them, who represent the people. Deng
Xiaoping has made it very clear that there is this small handful
of people, not only in the Party and in society, but also among
the students.

That's why I feel so sad, because I can't say all this to my
fellow students. I can't tell them straight out that we must use
our blood and our lives to call on the people to rise up. Of
course, the students will be willing. But they are still such
young children!

INTERVIEWER

Are you going to stay in the Square yourself?

No, I won't.

INTERVIEWER

Why?

CHAI LING

Because my situation is different. My name is on the
government's hit list. I'm not going to let myself be destroyed
by this government. I want to live. Anyway, that's how I feel
about it. I don't know if people will say I'm selfish. I believe
that others have to continue the work I have started. A democracy
movement can't succeed with only one person!

NARRATION

When Chai Ling finished her interview, she asked the American
journalist to take the tape he had made out to the world.

She told him that she must now leave Beijing and go
underground.

That day, students at the nearby Central Art Academy were
finishing work on a statue, which they called the Goddess of
Democracy.

The next night, as the Goddess of Democracy moved from the Art
Academy to Tiananmen, a television reporter interviewed Chai Ling
in one of the new tents on the Square.

She had changed her mind about leaving.

CHAI LING, interview on the Square

After I offered my resignation, many people said that it
wasn't right for me to quit at this moment. Since I enjoy
considerable prestige within the movement, my resignation would
have a negative effect at a time when many students are
wavering. So I've decided to stay on for the time being. I'll
try to get some rest and help set up a new leadership
structure.

REPORTER

Are you thinking of other ways to advance the movement?

CHAI LING

Yes. The emphasis of our work should no longer be at the
Square, but should be broadened to the whole country. I would
like to travel all over the country, even to Hong Kong and
other parts of the world. I want to learn about the situation
outside and then decide how long we should carry on the battle
of Tiananmen Square and determine what effect we can have.

NARRATION

Democracy: the ideal everyone talked about.

She stood facing Mao Zedong on the Gate of Heavenly Peace.
Mao, who had said that he too wanted democracy: Mass Democracy.

What does democracy mean? What was it coming to mean in China?
What could it be made to mean?

If democracy came to China, what would she look like? Whose
features would she wear?

There seemed a chance at least that her face would look all
too familiar.

PAN TO MAO PORTRAIT ON TIANANMEN GATE

WU GUOGUANG

Although some cracks have appeared in the system over the past
10 years, the way the whole nation thinks has not yet broken free
of the mold created by Mao.

In the past century or so, the Chinese people have shed blood
time and again, without losing the courage to fight for their
ideals. Each battle, however, has ended in a new tragedy, another
shattered dream. I believe that what the Chinese lack is not
ideals, but the means through which to realize them; not courage,
but the wisdom necessary to achieve their goal. What the Chinese
lack is not a heart, but a mind. During the Cultural Revolution
there was only one mind: that of Mao. After Mao's death, hundreds
of millions of minds needed to start functioning again. It is
much harder for the mind to recover than the stomach.

NARRATION

Though they gave the movement no new goals or direction, the
bright new tents and supplies from Hong Kong -- which included
massive infusions of cash -- would've lifted anyone's flagging
spirits.

FENG CONGDE, at meeting with John Shum

We are grateful for the support provided by our Hong Kong
friends. Your support has boosted our confidence.

REPORTER

And how did you raise the money in Hong Kong?

JOHN SHUM - Film and TV producer

Several -- many, many ways. For example, there was one
concert, "Concert for Democracy in China." In that concert
alone, fourteen million Hong Kong dollars, fourteen, was
raised, okay; and through other channels, phone-ins, or other,
many, many channels -- through federation of student union in
Hong Kong -- they raised more than ten million. So we are
talking about quite, you know, quite some money here.

NARRATION

International support suggested the possibility of a real
victory for the movement; but money did nothing to stop the
struggles for power being played out on the Square.

FENG CONGDE AND CHAI LING KIDNAPPING SEQUENCE

FENG CONGDE

At 4:00 a.m. Chai Ling and I were sleeping in a tent.
Several people burst in, gagged us, and tried to take us away.
But I broke free.

CHAI LING speaking into telephone

My husband and I yelled with all our might, "I'm Chai Ling!
I'm Feng Congde! We're the Commanders! We're being kidnapped!"
So other students rescued us.

REPORTER to Chen Wei

Chai Ling said you were one of the kidnappers.

CHEN WEI - student from Shenyang

I didn't know of any plans to kidnap them. But before that
happened, I heard many complaints about Chai Ling, Li Lu and
Feng Congde. Some people disliked their leadership style and
the messy finances. So they took radical action. This kind of
personal attack is not right. I am absolutely opposed to it. We
should use peaceful and democratic means to resolve such
problems.

REPORTER to Chai Ling

What do you think were the kidnappers' motives?

CHAI LING

Many signs show that this was a well-organized, premeditated
plot. We've learned that the government has been buying off
student traitors. They're trying to weaken the leadership at
the Square and destroy our movement.

LIANG XIAOYAN

Holding onto the Square like this was absolutely meaningless.
And I felt it was harmful to the students' cause.

One day a friend of mine who was a fairly well-known
intellectual came to see me. I told him that I had been going to
the Square every day to persuade all of my students to leave.

But he said that the students shouldn't leave. He said,"With
the students at the front lines, we'll be safe. Once the students
withdraw, the government will come after the intellectuals." I
was furious. I said, "So you want the students to shield you from
danger! What right do you have to hide behind them? Why don't you
try living in the Square like that? It's easy for you to talk,
never missing a meal and sleeping in your own comfortable home!"